Search - Oscar Brown Jr. :: Kicks! The Best of Oscar Brown Jr.

Some of the best of one of the best

tom appleton | 03/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"this is a five star record, but not quite a five star selection. the reason for this is that the material has been taken from four LPs -- the first four that oscar brown jr recorded, for columbia records. the first two of these were stellar achievements, they were the seven-star LPs that outshone practically the work of everybody else for the rest of the 1960s. "sin and soul", oscar brown's first record album had everybody falling over backwards at the time singing its praises. nina simone borrowed "work song" and "rags and old iron" -- adding "forbidden fruit" from brown's next LP, "between heaven and hell" as a title track for one of her stellar colpix albums. nina simone could always fall back on her own, solid piano work, while oscar brown's work depended for its success on his fellow musicians. unlike the beatles who could sing a faultless second voice to any of their tunes, no matter how much screeching was going on around them, oscar brown would sometimes lose his place in the script -- which didn't in the least, however, diminish his giant stature as a song writer. "heaven and hell" single-handedly inspired the rolling stones into achieving some of their finest moments -- listen to "beggars banquet" & "sympathy for the devil" just after listening to "mr kicks" and the inspirations become apparent. "sleepy" on "sin & soul" is an interesting example of how john lennon would allow himself to be inspired by somebody's work -- to write "i'm only sleeping" -- without ever "copying" anything. unfortunately, it's not to be found on this selection, as in fact some of the truly wonderful better tracks on all of the four LPs here cannibalised are missing. it's still sufficient to make this a five-star record, but it's not the absolute cream of the best selection i would have personally gone in for -- and knowing them, i now miss them. i guess the selection criteria were to provide something of an even number of tracks from each of the original LPs so as to not embarrass their individual resale chances. numbers three and four -- "in a new mood" and (OBJ) "tells it like it is" -- unfortunately, are slightly lesser efforts. a final quibble, why "forbidden fruit" had to be left off ("grumble"), and "work song" be given a double exposure ("snort"), i don't quite understand. this said, and with a certain measure of harumphing, i still think it's an absolute five-star selection, and anyway, think about it this way -- how many artists can you think of -- really, now -- where an absolute five star selection represents something slightly less than their absolute very best?"

An underappreciated giant

Jazz Officer Spaak | Connecticut, USA | 08/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"[See my credentials at end of review.] Oscar Brown, Jr. was an outspoken opponent of racism and social injustice in general. However, he also painted with a broad brush about the human condition in a universal sense. This, combined with his ability to bring the protagonists of his songs to life every time he performed them, were his greatest strengths, I believe. If the narrator of a song was inebriated, Oscar would present you an inebriated performance right before your eyes if you were privileged to see him live in concert. This is in no small measure related to the fact that some of his songs were written with musical stage shows in mind. (None of the shows he brought to the stage achieved financial success, sadly. It seems the American public was not ready to deal with serious matters like racism.) If only three of Brown's sets of lyrics had ever been published/recorded, in my opinion they would have entitled him to enter the pantheon of jazz lyricists. My nominees: "Work Song" (set to music by Nat Adderley); "Afro-Blue" (set to music by Mongo Santamaria); "All Blues" (set to music by Miles Dewey Davis). The latter is a perfect example of addressing the human condition, ethnicity being irrelevant. As to "losing his place in the script," I am at a loss as to what another reviewer had in mind. Also, we know the Beatles and the Stones grew up listening to American R&B music, but I rather doubt they were attuned to Oscar Brown, Jr. The latter's "Sleepy" is a guy's complaint that whenever he wants to make love to his gal, she just can't seem to find the energy. Now, I don't claim to entirely understand what the Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping" is "about"--I suspect this mystery is part of the song's charm--but I am confident it has nothing to do with "Sleepy"! Certainly, a true devotee will always quibble about what's included and what's omitted on "Best Of" compilations, but the tracks here are a pretty good representation of Oscar's work on his classic albums for Columbia. "...Tells It Like It Is" (1963) contained some stunning material, including the beautiful "The Tree And Me," recently recorded by jazz singer Karrin Allyson. This is anything but a weak album, and having it combined with the long out of print "In A New Mood" LP on a single disc makes for a bargain. If you buy this compilation and are impressed by what you find, I would urge you to expand your OBJ collection quickly, before other items fall out of the catalog. And that sums up the Oscar Brown, Jr. story: A tremendous talent who was never adequately appreciated in the country of his birth. [My credentials: Noncommercial jazz radio program host for close to 15 years; co-producer of 10 independently-released jazz CDs; Oscar Brown, Jr. fanatic since early 1960s; privileged to have conducted a face to face interview with Oscar in 1992.]"